Is Adenosine Deaminase in Pleural Fluid a Useful Marker for Differentiating Tuberculosis from Lung Cancer or Mesothelioma in Japan, a Country with Intermediate Incidence of Tuberculosis?

The objective of this study was to evaluate the utility of the determination of adenosine deaminase (ADA) level in pleural fluid for the differential diagnosis between tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) and malignant pleural effusion (MPE) in Japan, a country with intermediate incidence of tuberculosis (TB). We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 435 patients with pleural effusion and investigated their pleural ADA levels as determined by an auto analyzer. ROC analysis was also performed. The study included patients with MPE (n＝188), TPE (n＝124), benign nontuberculous pleural effusion (n＝94), and pleural effusion of unknown etiology (n＝29). The median ADA level in the TPE group was 70.8U/L, which was significantly higher than that in any other groups (p＜0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) in ROC analysis was 0.895. With a cut-off level for ADA of 36U/L, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 85.5%, 86.5%, 69.7%, and 93.6%, respectively. As many as 9% of patients with lung cancer and 15% of those with mesothelioma were false-positive with this ADA cutoff setting. Although the ADA activity in pleural fluid can help in the diagnosis of TPE, it should be noted that some cases of lung cancer or mesothelioma show high ADA activity in geographical regions with intermediate incidence of TB, in contrast to high prevalence areas

Downsian Positions of Parties and Districts from the Numbers of Votes with Examples of Japanese Congressional Elections 1983 - 2004

This paper proposes, under assumptions of sincere voters with some additional conditions, to calculate the positions of parties and districts by “solving” a system of equations whose left hand sides are theoretical predictions and theright hand sides are the actual numbers of votes gained by the parties in the districts. The positions of parties and prefectures are calculated for the seats for the proportional representation in the Japanese congressional elections 1983 – 2004. The result reveals that the competition in these elections was not between the right and the left, but between the urban and the rural

Suzaku Detection of Extended/Diffuse Hard X-Ray Emission from the Galactic Center

Five on-plane regions within +/- 0.8deg of the Galactic center were observed with the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) and the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) onboard Suzaku. From all regions, significant hard X-ray emission was detected with HXD-PIN up to 40 keV, in addition to the extended plasma emission which is dominant in the XIS band. The hard X-ray signals are inferred to come primarily from a spatially extended source, rather than from a small number of bright discrete objects. Contributions to the HXD data from catalogued X-ray sources, typically brighter than 1 mCrab, were estimated and removed using information from Suzaku and other satellites. Even after this removal, the hard X-ray signals remained significant, exhibiting a typical 12--40 keV surface brightness of 4E-10 erg cm-2 s-1 deg-2 and power-law-like spectra with a photon index of 1.8. Combined fittings to the XIS and HXD-PIN spectra confirm that a separate hard tail component is superposed onto the hot thermal emission, confirming a previous report based on the XIS data. Over the 5--40 keV band, the hard tail is spectrally approximated by a power law of photon index ~2, but better by those with somewhat convex shapes. Possible origins of the extended hard X-ray emission are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figure

A SPECIAL DAYTIME WAVEFORM AND THE DISTANCE FROM ITS ORIGIN

1956-01-30departmental bulletin pape

Non-cross-linking gold nanoparticle aggregation as a detection method for single-base substitutions

Aggregation of DNA-modified gold nanoparticles in a non-cross-linking configuration has extraordinary selectivity against terminal mismatch of the surface-bound duplex. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of this selectivity for detection of single-base substitutions. The samples were prepared through standard protocols: DNA extraction, PCR amplification and single-base primer extension. Oligonucleotide-modified nanoparticles correctly responded to the unpurified products from the primer extension: aggregation for the full match and dispersion for all the mismatches. Applicability of this method to genomic DNA was tested with five human tumor cell lines, and verified by conventional technologies: mass spectrometry and direct sequencing. Unlike the existing methods for single-base substitution analysis, this method does not need specialized equipments, and opens up a new possibility of point-of-care diagnosis for single-nucleotide polymorphisms

Selectively Expanded of CD4+ T Cells from Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Induced by Interleukin-2 Plus Anti-CD3 : Effects on the Cytotoxicity, the Proliferation and the Modulation of HLA Antigens and Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 against Human Malignant Melanoma Cell Lines

We selected human CD4? T cells using immunomagnetic beads from periph-eral blood mononuclear cells of 5 healthy volunteers, and cultured with recom-binant interleukin-2 (RIL-2) plus anti-CD3 culture supernatants. After success-ful generation of the CD4? T cell cultures, we examined the therapeutic value for human malignant melanoma. Through flow cytometry analysis, ??Cr-release assay and proliferation assay, we found that a) the total increase in 7 to 10 day cultures ranged from 30 to 100-fold ; b) the expanded cells were mostly CD2?, CD3?, CD4?, CD8?, CD25?, CD29?, CD56? and T cell receptor (α/β)? T cell ; c) some of them possessed moderate levels of natural killer cell and lymphokine -activated killer cell activities ; d) culture supernatants significantly inhibited the growth of cultured human melanoma cell lines ; e) culture supernatants enhanced surface expression of class I, class II and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 on cultured human melanoma cell lines ; and f) culture supernatants contained large amounts of cytokines such as IL-2, IL-6 and interferon-γ. These results sug-gested that selectively expanded CD4+ T cells may be available as a new strategy in the future human adoptive immunotherapy

Axillary artery injury combined with delayed brachial plexus palsy due to compressive hematoma in a young patient: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Axillary artery injury in the shoulder region following blunt trauma without association with either shoulder dislocation or fracture of the humeral neck has been previously reported. Axillary artery injury might also be accompanied with brachial plexus injury. However, delayed onset of brachial plexus palsy caused by a compressive hematoma associated with axillary injury after blunt trauma in the shoulder region has been rarely reported. In previous reports, this condition only occurred in old patients with sclerotic vessels. We present a case of a young patient who suffered axillary artery injury associated with brachial plexus palsy that occurred tardily due to compressive hematoma after blunt trauma in the shoulder region without association of either shoulder dislocation or humeral neck fracture.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 16-year-old male injured his right shoulder in a motorbike accident. On initial physical evaluation, the pulses on the radial and ulnar arteries in the affected arm were palpable. Paralysis developed later from 2 days after the injury. Functions in the right arm became significantly impaired. Angiography showed complete occlusion of the axillary artery. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a mass measuring 4 × 5 cm that was suspected to be a hematoma compressing the brachial plexus in a space between the subscapular muscle and the pectoralis minor muscle. Surgery was performed on the third day after injury. In intraoperative observations, the axillary artery was occluded with thrombus along 5 cm; a subscapular artery was ruptured; the brachial plexus was compressed by the hematoma. After evacuation of the hematoma, neurolysis of the brachial plexus, and revascularization of the axillary artery, the patient had an excellent functional recovery of the affected upper limb, postoperatively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Surgeons should be aware that axillary artery injuries may even occur in young people after severe blunt trauma in the shoulder region and can be associated with secondary brachial plexus injury due to a hematoma. For treatment in cases with progressive nervous deficit after trauma, not only reconstruction of the injured artery but also immediate evacuation of the hematoma, and exploration of the brachial plexus are necessary to avoid irreversible neurological damage.</p

Regulated growth of diatom cells on self-assembled monolayers

We succeeded in regulating the growth of diatom cells on chemically modified glass surfaces. Glass surfaces were functionalized with -CF(3), -CH(3), -COOH, and -NH(2 )groups using the technique of self-assembled monolayers (SAM), and diatom cells were subsequently cultured on these surfaces. When the samples were rinsed after the adhesion of the diatom cells on the modified surfaces, the diatoms formed two dimensional arrays; this was not possible without the rinsing treatment. Furthermore, we examined the number of cells that grew and their motility by time-lapse imaging in order to clarify the interaction between the cells and SAMs. We hope that our results will be a basis for developing biodevices using living photosynthetic diatom cells